Can Rural Human Capital Improve Agricultural Ecological Efficiency? Empirical Evidence from China

Yankang Hu, Hongchao Yu and Xinglong Yang ()
Additional contact information
Yankang Hu: College of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China
Hongchao Yu: Qingdao Changyang Group Co., Ltd., Qingdao 266600, China
Xinglong Yang: College of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-18

Abstract: Agricultural ecological efficiency (AEE) is an important index to measure the coordinated development of agricultural production, resources, and the environment. This study tries to explore the impact of rural human capital (RHC) on AEE, hoping to provide a reference for promoting the green development of agriculture. Data sets (2006–2021) used in this study were gathered from Official Statistics Panel data in 30 provinces in China. Firstly, the super-efficient slacks-based measure model (SBM) with non-expected output is employed to effectively measure AEE. Secondly, the entropy method is used to measure RHC in three dimensions: education, health, and migration. Finally, this study discusses the impact of RHC on AEE using the panel Tobit model and further verifies the moderating effect of Internet popularization on the effect of RHC on AEE using the moderating effect model. The results show that RHC has a significant positive impact on the promotion of AEE, and this positive impact has obvious regional heterogeneity. Specifically, RHC has a greater promoting role on AEE in the eastern and northeastern regions, while it has a smaller promoting role on AEE in the central and western regions. In addition, Internet penetration plays a positive moderating role in the mechanism of the effect of RHC on the AEE. This study may serve as a reference for improving AEE by providing theoretical guidance and policy suggestions for promoting agricultural green development.

Keywords: rural human capital; agricultural ecological efficiency; Internet popularization; moderating effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12317/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12317/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12317-:d:1216128

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().